Oman's finance minister, Darwish bin Ismail al Balushi has said if tensions over Iran's nuclear programme escalate further inflation in Oman and global oil prices could be adversely affected, Muscat Daily has reported. Although inflation is currently "not a big concern," commodity prices could bear the brunt of any rising apprehension in the region on the Iran issue, Balushi said. "It will have an effect on oil prices, inflation, trade and investment flows, which are all interconnected issues in the economy," he said. "It all depends on the environment and once the environment becomes unstable then a lot of things will be affected."